This is part 2 of our series “The Complete Guide to the Common App Personal Statement Essay” where we walk first-year undergraduate students through writing the Common App essay from start to finish. That's right — from the very beginning. If you missed our first installment, “Is the Common App Essay Really That Important?”, check it outhereOur Director of Coach Training and long-time Prompt Writing Coach breaks down common myths and mistakes students make when writing their Common App personal statement essay. Let’s dig in so that you can tackle your personal statement with confidence!
We covered this more thoroughly in the first article of this series: “Is the Common App Essay Really That Important?”
The short version? Yes, your essay does make a big difference!
A similar myth we hear: “Do colleges actually read essays?” Again, yes. The essay is a big component of a successful college application, and we know what college admissions officers look for; it’s your opportunity to demonstrate who you are, how you learn, and your potential for success, helping you stand out from applicants with similar academic and demographic profiles.
Contrary to popular belief, colleges aren’t necessarily looking for that mythical student who juggles being a varsity football captain with working at a cancer research lab and publishing poetry in The New Yorker.
Rather, colleges want a well-rounded campus community. While that student probably wouldn’t have a hard time getting into college, admissions readers are looking to build a diverse and well-rounded class, which consists of students with specific strengths and interests.
If you have pursued your interests and are proactive in learning and growing as a person (even in just one area), you are just as competitive as a student who juggles many activities. In fact, you may be able to write a more compelling personal statement because you can dig deeper into one theme and focus more on your drive, initiative, and intellectual curiosity around this singular topic.
While 650 words might feel like a lot when you are staring at a blank page, if you start at “when I was five…” you will run out of room before you hit middle school! Readers are most invested in who you are today because that is the person who will be showing up on their college campus next year. We recommend that you focus on narratives that happened during high school. These will be the details that are freshest in your mind and most applicable to the traits you want to showcase.
Sometimes, students feel that they need to provide context through a story from their earlier childhood years. If that context is vital to your guiding message, then by all means, include it. However, in your revisions, we recommend that you streamline to only include the most critical details and focus most of your essay on how that narrative or context impacted more recent growth and actions.
You are under pressure to sum up who you are in 650 words; it’s natural to think about the most memorable things that have happened to you. However, the personal statement is your chance to teach readers about your unique personality, personal growth, values, and potential. In many cases, dramatic or traumatic stories don’t reveal these things; our responses to trauma are often similar. Trauma also happens to us, limiting the growth or impact that we can demonstrate.
If you decide that you want to include a narrative about a particularly traumatic challenge in your life, this is the most important question to ask yourself: “What have I done as a result of this thing that happened to me?” If you don’t have an answer of what you did after, you may not be ready to write about this topic. Writing and revising might also be triggering if you are not fully “on the other side” of this experience.
Example 1: Sam experienced a sexual assault and decided to form a survivors’ advocacy group at school, leading a campaign about how offensive language and jokes can lead to a community culture of assault.
Should this be their essay? This could be a good topic because we learn about Sam’s impact through organizing a group and using their experience to empower and protect others. The final draft would have far more content (in length and depth) about how Sam used their growth from the traumatic experience to learn and help others, demonstrating their contribution to their community, drive, and initiative.
Example 2: Annie’s best friend engaged in self-harm, and Annie decided to help her friend find professional support.
Should this be their essay? While Annie’s intervention shows empathy, this topic runs the risk of being more about her friend’s journey. Unless this experience sparked a bigger interest in counseling or a related topic that Annie has pursued outside of her friendship, Annie should probably continue brainstorming other experiences.
In short, we only encourage writing about dramatic/traumatic topics if the impact moves beyond the event that happened to a positive shift in perspective and purpose. Some of the best essays are about small moments — passing (or failing!) a driving test, learning how to cook, or pursuing an interest that introduced them to new opportunities. Smaller moments like these can shed light on your day-to-day attitude and values, helping readers imagine your role as a student and active community member on campus.
In recent years, social media has compounded this myth with viral personal statements that use an extended metaphor to frame the essay. While this can sometimes work, there is a fine line between a unique creative concept and a gimmick that gets old fast.
Metaphors often take up too much space to make them work, forcing your unique narrative and insights to the sidelines. If you need to explain your metaphor using more than 2-3 sentences, then your essay will be taken over by sustaining the gimmick and won’t leave you room to discuss your story and personal growth.
Example of a gimmick:
“My life is a book. The cover is faded from all my experiences, and the pages with my favorite memories are dog-eared and scribbled on. The book of my life has coffee stains from early mornings doing my homework on the bus, and a few drops of tears in the middle.”
Why it doesn’t work:
We don’t know anything about the student. The essay will become more about sustaining the book gimmick without revealing the student’s unique insights and experiences.
Example of a creative concept:
“Dinner at my house has more in common with a rowdy UN meeting than the All-American family ideal making small talk about their day.”
Why it works:
From this comparison, we get that the student is going to show how their upbringing has shaped their values and opinions. The essay will probably not continue the comparison; rather, it will move on to describe their household and how this environment has shaped them.
Another creative concept that worked… finally:
A student wanted to show how playing cards with her family has influenced her to be strategic and collaborative. Her first draft, though, spent over 400 words describing the game rules and play. In the end, we condensed this inspiration into her opening scene, 4 sentences that showed the lively action around her family’s kitchen table. The rest of her essay detailed how she partnered with classmates to launch an AAPI club at her school and used her love of card playing to build community in that club.
At the end of the day, readers should leave the Common App essay with a better understanding of who you are; that's all that matters!
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